September 2009 Archive

On a Mission

The world land speed record for electric motorbikes was recently eclipsed on the salt plains of Utah. The Mission One superbike, designed by famed industrial designer Yves Behar of fuseproject, clocked an amazing 150 mph (241 kph) in multiple runs.

The US$69 000 Mission One is the first production bike developed by Mission Motors, a collective of like-minded electronics guru's and motorbike fanatics who started life in their garage and have grown to be a world leader in their field.

With incredible contemporary styling and state-of-the-art technology this bike is at the vanguard of a new movement in transport technology. Along with it's frightening speed, it has ground breaking power and handling characteristics, can run for 150 miles on a single charge and remains virtually silent.

With the first 300 scheduled to come off the production line late next year, don't forget to look left & right before stepping off the pavement.

You gotta love Lego!

It's an accepted fact that almost every industrial designer started out in design by building stuff with Lego. We all love it and have been seduced by those coloured bricks and weird little men with cylindrical heads since we were old enough to demand what we wanted for our birthday.

James May, star of the cult British TV show Top Gear, is a man who likes to do crazy things in his day job, but it seems in his spare time he doesn't mind thinking outside the box as well. In this case, a Lego box.

James and a team of helpers are building a life size Lego house that will be fully functioning with built in toilet, shower and even a staircase. This colourful creation is expected to contain over 3 million bricks once it is complete and comes as the latest installment in James Toy Challenge, part of his BBC series, James May's Toy Stories.

If this guy can find time to play with Lego in his busy schedule then there's hope for all of us. 

Now where did I put that Lego Death Star...

Solar energy from our roads?

A start-up US firm, Solar Roadways, has just been awarded a US$100k grant to develop a prototype of their new Solar Road Panel system, designed to replace the vast petroleum based asphalt roads infrastructure with a sustainable alternative that produces solar energy.

The system uses a multi-layer panel that has a tough, translucent road surface layer protecting the electronics below whilst still allowing sunlight to pass through to the solar cells.

The mid layer contains all the electronics, including solar cells, arrays of LED's for "painting" the road with line markings and warning signs and "ultra" caps for storing power. These ultra caps can even heat the road surface in cold climates to melt snow and ice.

The base layer is designed to distribute the collected power as well as other data services such as phone, TV and internet, completing an extremely sophisticated technology sandwich.

The Solar Roadway becomes an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized (secure) power grid that creates a positive second use for land that is currently allocated only for roads or carparks.

Clever design and visionary thinking. If you'd like to create a paradigm shift in your industry, contact Katapult Design.